Guest Post: Korean Board Game!

People all over the world have long loved playing board games. Here's how to make a traditional Korean family board game called Yut-Nori (pronounced "yoonnori"). It's especially popular during the New Year, but it can be played any time. My parents, who are from Korea, used to play this game with us when we were growing up in the U.S.. It's a lot of fun and I wanted to introduce my children to the game, because playing games from other countries is a great way for kids to learn that that children all over the world are just like them - they enjoy playing games and having fun together. Children will also be interested to see that many board games share similar elements even though they have such diverse origins - this one reminds our kids of games like Sorry or Pass the Pigs. Like other board games of this type, this game enhances budding numeracy skills.

Yut-nori consists of a board (in Korea, it's usually made of cloth with circles and lines drawn on it, but I drew ours on paper), four sticks which are curved on one side and flat on another, and markers (we like collecting pretty stones and buttons to use as markers for handmade games). If you're handy with a penknife, you can carve four sticks out of wood, but I thought decorating craft sticks would be easier, and fun for kids to make on their own, so this is our variation on the traditional game.

These are striped to represent the flat side and dotted to represent the curved side (but you can decorate however you like as long as you are consistent. For instance you could try solid color on one side, a pattern on the other, or drawings on one side and blank on the other side....use your imagination).

Take a piece of paper or cardboard and decorate as shown above. You'll have circles going around in a square, connected by lines. The X in the middle is a shortcut that you can take if you happen to land on the corners. Make one of the circles in the corner your home base or starting point.

The point of the game is to be the first person to move around the circle and return back to home base. If you land on a corner, you can take a shortcut, and if you happen to land on the center spot, you can take another shortcut.

You advance your pieces by throwing the sticks in the air and seeing how they fall.

If they fall with one dotted side up, you advance one space.If two dotted sides are up, you advance two spaces.If three dotted sides are up, you advance three spaces.If four dotted sides are up, you advance four spaces.If four striped sides land face up, you advance five spaces.

If you got all dotted or all striped sides face up, you can take another turn.---Check out more about Christine atOrigami Mommy. For a delicious soundingKorean treat try her recipe for sweet Korean pancakes!

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People all over the world have long loved playing board games. Here's how to make a traditional Korean family board game called Yut-Nori (pronounced "yoonnori"). It's especially popular during the New Year, but it can be played any time. My parents, who are from Korea, used to play this game with us when we were growing up in the U.S.. It's a lot of fun and I wanted to introduce my children to the game, because playing games from other countries is a great way for kids to learn that that children all over the world are just like them - they enjoy playing games and having fun together. Children will also be interested to see that many board games share similar elements even though they have such diverse origins - this one reminds our kids of games like Sorry or Pass the Pigs. Like other board games of this type, this game enhances budding numeracy skills.

Yut-nori consists of a board (in Korea, it's usually made of cloth with circles and lines drawn on it, but I drew ours on paper), four sticks which are curved on one side and flat on another, and markers (we like collecting pretty stones and buttons to use as markers for handmade games). If you're handy with a penknife, you can carve four sticks out of wood, but I thought decorating craft sticks would be easier, and fun for kids to make on their own, so this is our variation on the traditional game.

These are striped to represent the flat side and dotted to represent the curved side (but you can decorate however you like as long as you are consistent. For instance you could try solid color on one side, a pattern on the other, or drawings on one side and blank on the other side....use your imagination).

Take a piece of paper or cardboard and decorate as shown above. You'll have circles going around in a square, connected by lines. The X in the middle is a shortcut that you can take if you happen to land on the corners. Make one of the circles in the corner your home base or starting point.

The point of the game is to be the first person to move around the circle and return back to home base. If you land on a corner, you can take a shortcut, and if you happen to land on the center spot, you can take another shortcut.

You advance your pieces by throwing the sticks in the air and seeing how they fall.

If they fall with one dotted side up, you advance one space.If two dotted sides are up, you advance two spaces.If three dotted sides are up, you advance three spaces.If four dotted sides are up, you advance four spaces.If four striped sides land face up, you advance five spaces.

If you got all dotted or all striped sides face up, you can take another turn.---Check out more about Christine atOrigami Mommy. For a delicious soundingKorean treat try her recipe for sweet Korean pancakes!